Today's Paper
» NATIONAL
» KARNATAKA

No pay for scientists for two months

Bangalore: The sericulture industry’s poor state of affairs in Karnataka also appears to be linked with poor patronage from the State Government.

More than 330 employees of Karnataka State Sericulture Research and Development Institute (KSSRDI), including more than 100 scientists carrying out research at the institute at Thalagattapura on the outskirts of Bangalore, had not received their salaries for the last two months.

“We had to go without salaries for May and June. We are not sure when our salaries will be paid,” said a source in KSSRDI. Though the institute requires about Rs. 8 crore towards salaries for a year, the government is understood to have made available only Rs. 4.09 crore, raising doubts over the future of the institute, which had been set up with World Bank aid in 1981.

The institute has been functioning without a head for almost two years. “The post of the director of the institute has been vacant for two years,” a source said.